Nyoli (UW/R), May 21, GNA – The 4Ward Development West Africa, a private water utility service provider, has earmarked 10 communities in the Upper West and Savannah regions to supply safe and sustainable water to them, this year.
The intervention, which was estimated to cost US$700,000.00, would benefit about 25,000 people in the 10 communities.
The communities are Nyoli, Poyentanga, Ga and Kendeu in the Wa West District; Loggu in the Wa East District, and Boli in the Wa Municipality for the Upper West Region, and Blema, Tuna, Gindabuor and Kulmasa in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the Savannah Region.
Mr Ahmed Yekini, the Regional Director of 4Ward Development West Africa (4WardWA) made this known at Nyoli in the Wa West District when the organisation commissioned a water system for the community, the first of its kind in the area.
Plans were also advanced to invest another US$1,500,000.00 in the water infrastructure next year, which had also been estimated to reach about 45,000 people, he said.
The intervention would be in partnership with Water4, another water supply entity, USAID, Global Communities and Helmsley Trust of USA, under the “Enhancing WASH” project.
“The community water infrastructure we build are designed to provide safe water delivery options tailored to consumer demands,” Mr Yekini said.
“These include walk-up public fetch stations operated by vendors and private connections for households, clinics, schools and businesses.”
He said the water was tapped from underground, treated and distributed to the people, with 40 households in the Nyoli Community connecting it to their homes.
The initiative was to complement government’s efforts in providing potable water to the citizenry towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Six, which sought to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030,” he said.
“Our lives should not begin on our mothers’ backs as they haul 30 kilometers of dirty water only to, at the end of our lives, find ourselves made sick and frail from hauling and drinking that same water”, Mr Matt Hangen, the Chief Executive Officer of Water4 and 4WardWA, said.
He said the water intervention would not only alleviate the plight of the people, particularly women and children in accessing water, but also provide over 170 job opportunities for the community.
Mr Hangen expressed gratitude to the stakeholders, including the district and municipal assemblies, for believing in 4WardWA’s ability to provide what the people needed the most.
Naa Braimah Sunkari, the Chief of Nyoli, thanked the benefactors for the intervention and said it would save women at the community from the drudgery they go through in search of water.
He said the community used to depend on dugouts for water, resulting in water borne diseases such as typhoid, which also dried up during the dry season.
Madam Vida Diorotey, the Wa West District Chief Executive, said the intervention would save the district its meager resources to provide water for the smaller communities.
Philip Tengzu, GNA
